1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to determining information about a network and, more particularly, to a system, method, and article of manufacture for determining connection information for ports and terminations in a network.
2. Background Information
Over the years, all types of networks, including connection oriented networks, such as asynchronous transport mode (ATM) and multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) networks, and connectionless networks, such as Internet protocol (IP) networks, have grown in size and complexity. Each node in such networks may include one or more network elements, such as a switch, with one or more ports. Each port in turn may include one or more terminations. A termination may include a logical subset of transmissions terminating at a port, such an ATM virtual channel termination.
Network providers and their customers generally wish to obtain information about a network for several reasons, such as ensuring level of service, troubleshooting network problems, and general network planning. The information may include, for example, connection information for terminations and ports in the network. Connection information for a termination may include information about some other termination to which the termination is connected over the network and about the port that includes this other termination. A termination may be logically connected to some other termination. Connection information for a port may include information about some other port to which the port is connected over the network and about the node that includes this other port. A port may be physically connected to some other port.
Generally, one may be able to automatically determine some information about a network through an information source, such as a management information base (MIB) or a database. An information source may include information about a network in a generic or a proprietary format. Moreover, an information source, such as MIB, may be located in a network element and/or a computer running a software program, such as an element management system (EMS). One may use a computer and EMS to query the information source and obtain certain information about the node, such as the number of ports on the node.
Known systems and methods, however, cannot determine connection information for terminations and ports. One reason for this shortcoming is that the information source may not store or provide the connection information. Another reason is that even if the information source provides the connection information, the connection information may not reside in the information source. Still another reason is that the connection information may reside in non-standard information sources and may require expensive application specific software interfaces and methods to obtain the connection information from these non-standard information sources.